Oleg Volk has reviewed the Crosman MAR177 .177 upper receiver attached to a standard AR-15 lower receiver, resulting in something that is legally a gun (the lower receiver) but fires pellets using air. It is a pre-charged repeater designed for competition training. Oleg really liked the upper as well as the concept …

When I first saw a .177 upper for an AR-15, I laughed. It wasn’t suitable for defensive purposes, therefore wasn’t interesting to me. The next time I saw it, I thought it was a cute idea for entirely too much money, $600 retail. And then I grew up and realized that I have more defensive guns and ammunition than time for training, and that’s when the pre-charged airgun upper suddenly made sense.

Not being a fan of public ranges — I dislike being exposed to other people’s noise — I mostly shoot on farm ranges. Every one of those is an hour away from me, so the minimal time investment for a range trip is two hours. Not even counting gas, that’s a lot of billable hours spent on the road and a lot of fatigue. So I started playing with air guns which I can shoot in my back yard or on nearby properties. Unfortunately, my favorite air gun up to now, the Crosman 2300S, was quietly removed from the manual of arms and the general feel of my typical defensive rifle. I wanted to try something more AR-like, especially since I’ve been neglecting shooting with iron sights lately.